“It is really quite insulting to the millions of women who would be covered under this new legislation,” Murray told TPM in a statement. “Are these out-of-touch, extremist groups prepared to tell Native American women that the new provisions aimed at protecting them are ‘unnecessary’ — when one in three of them will be raped in their lifetime? These women live on lands that are hours away from the nearest federal prosecutors. And for non-tribal members on these lands who perpetrate violent crimes against the women living there, this equates to nothing short of a safe-haven. Free from tribal jurisdiction, these are places where they can repeatedly commit horrific acts without being afraid of being brought to justice.”

“VAWA has attained such broad support because it’s worked,” she said. “It has never been a political football and we cannot start picking winners and losers on who gets these critical protections.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sahil Kapur is TPM's senior congressional reporter and Supreme Court correspondent. His articles have been published in the Huffington Post, The Guardian and The New Republic. Email him at sahil@talkingpointsmemo.com and follow him on Twitter at @sahilkapur.